All I need
by Kima-Neko
Summary: Set after the movie! Ed is having nightmares, but his little brother knows how to deal with them. !No Elricest! Just brotherly love.


Disclaimer: Unfortunately, FMA's not mine. Otherwise... Ed and Al would return to Shamballa, probably :D And Noah would die. Along with Rose. O yeah.

I tried my best to spell everything correct and not make any big mistakes in grammar, but I'm still learning English so don't go hard on me^^

**All I need**

Sometimes, he woke up in the middle of the night, heart racing and beating painfully in his chest. He would turn over then, crying hard, only to see his little brother's silhouette sleeping peacefully in a bed right next to him.

He would never wake him, though. Just seeing Al's peaceful face while he was fast asleep made Edward's heart ache with relief. He would sigh then and lie down again, closing his eyes and hoping that these nightmares would come to an end now.

But they kept returning. In his nightmares, he saw Alphonse dying in his very arms and found himself powerless to prevent this. Whenever Al's eyes went blank, whenever his soul left his body, Ed would wake with tears dwelling in his eyes.

After all this time, after all those years of suffering and fear, after their reunion, he was still afraid to lose his brother again. Noah had just smiled when he had admitted this to her one night. "He is your little brother, after all, Edward," she had told him and he found himself not satisfied with this answer. He wanted somebody – anybody – to stop this fear that had slowly begun to drive him mad…

*******

"_Brother! Look out!!" He turned around, but was too slow once again. Al choked and a small trickle of blood ran out of his mouth, his eyes wide of pain and horror._

"_Al, NO!!" Ed started running and caught his brother's body right before it hit the floor._

"_Al! Oh my god, Al, please, no! Don't leave me now!," Ed sobbed, holding him close to his chest. _

"_You have to… watch your back," Al whispered in response, smiling faintly through the pain. Edward didn't dare to look away from his brother's face for he knew that there was a mortal wound in his chest that he did not want to see. _

_Tears fell down on Alphonse's face that had gone pale. He was barely breathing now and Ed was shocked to see tears in his eyes, too._

"_Al," he begged and bit his lip as his brother's head fell heavy against his chest and the golden eyes went blank._

"_Bro…ther…" The barely audible whisper didn't make it any better. As the realization of his brother's death hit him, Edward began to scream._

_*******  
_

Still screaming, he awoke while hot tears kept running down his cheeks. He put a hand over his face, unable to stop crying. He struggled to banish the memory of the nightmare from his head, but found himself unable to do it. He didn't knew how long he sat in the darkness like this, crying and wishing for the first time in years that his mother would come comfort him. In this moment, he longed for her harder than ever.

"Brother?" Ed winced and turned his head only to see that Al was right next to him on the edge of the bed, watching him in a mix of fear and worry.

"I-It's nothing," he said quickly, wiping away the tears and smiling at his younger brother. It was still dark, but bright enough to see each other.

"You were crying," Al stated anxiously. "And I heard you scream."

"It's nothing," Edward repeated wearily. "I just…" He stopped and looked away.

"Were you having a nightmare?" He just nodded. He had never been a good liar, at least not considering his brother. Al had some ability that made it impossible to lie to him because he would find out anyway.

"How long have you been having them?," Alphonse demanded and Ed looked at him only to find a stern look on his brother's face that made him feel guilty at once. He didn't even ask how Al knew that there had been more than one bad dream.

"Quite some time," he admitted eventually after a long silence. "Didn't want to bother you." Al sighed.

"You're still an idiot, brother," he said then and shook his head in disbelief.

"Don't call your older brother an idiot," Ed replied quietly and pouted slightly. He suddenly remembered the last time he had said those words. It had been when Scar had almost killed them…

"I am and I will," Al said. "I told you! Don't keep this kind of thing from me! You're not alone anymore, remember?" Edward sighed. Suddenly, he felt very stupid.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a terrible pain in the ass." Now it seemed to be Al's turn to sigh. He turned away and looked out of the window for some time.

"You know… While you were gone, I've been having these nightmares. I… I saw you dying and I woke up at the middle of the night and you weren't there…!"

"Al…" Pity rose within him while he watched his little brother's profile. Alphonse sighed once again and scratched the back of his head before looking at his older brother again.

"You better be really sorry! Don't make me worry like this again, brother!," he growled. Ed stared at him for a moment and started to laugh then. He was laughing so hard that he had a few problems breathing but couldn't make himself stop. When he finally calmed down, he wiped away a tear from the corner of his left eye and pulled Al into a hug.

"Ah! Brother?!" Al stiffened and instigated for a moment before returning the hug.

"Promise to tell me the next time, will you?," he asked quietly and Edward nodded silently. They remained like this for a moment before letting go of each other again.

Al had blushed slightly and was smiling kind of sheepishly. Then, he made himself comfortable, lying down next to his older brother and asked:

"Brother, can I sleep here tonight? Just like… when mom was still there?" Edward remembered how Al had been having nightmares when he had been little. Back then, he would crawl into their mother's bed and sleep next to her. Just like Ed had himself when he had been having bad dreams…

"Sure," he smiled, lying down, too. "But this shouldn't become a habit. You're old enough to sleep on your own, after all!" Al giggled quietly.

"Now you sound like an older brother!"

Edward closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax. He felt like a little boy again, but for the first time in years he was positive that everything was good now.

********

Sometimes, he woke up in the middle of the night, crying quietly. He would turn over then, only to see that his older brother was awake and smiling at him."It's alright," the older Elric would say then, pulling him closer to himself. "I'm here." Then, Al would wipe away his tears again and nod. He knew that everything was going to be alright as long as his brother would stay by his side. For that was all that Alphonse needed to be happy.


End file.
